Truman is a classic 1986Land Rover 90, and now he’s our official 30A mascot.

Truman was first put into service on August 29, 1986 (Registration ID: 61KF77), and the last unit he served was the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, an armored regiment of the British Territorial Army. Our overseas friend found him abandoned on a military lot, so we bought him in August 2012 and immediately began our restoration project.

Truman’s body was in good shape, and under the hood, he has a 200 Tdi (Turbocharged Direct Injection) diesel engine. Almost all of the restoration work was done overseas, and we asked our 300,000+ 30A fans for input and help throughout the entire process, including what color we should paint it (we opted for Light Stone, one of the British Ministry of Defense’s official colors).

We incorporated many of your suggestions, including adding a 12,000-lb plasma rope winch, a rear-mounted British MOD water can, a snorkel, a tone-on-tone 30A logo painted on each door, new seats and more. We even let 30A fans choose its name … and they voted for “Truman,” after our community’s most famous — if fictional — resident. After much nervous anticipation (and bureaucratic paperwork), our Land Rover 90 eventually cleared U.S. Customs in Jacksonville. Then on March 29, 2013 — after 8 long months of work and waiting — Truman finally rolled into Santa Rosa Beach, where he’ll live out the rest of his days basking in our Florida sunshine.

The company has given away over 740,000 of its famous 30A stickers for free in local businesses, with all donation box revenue supporting Alaqua Animal Refuge. Over $95,000 has been raised for for the charity to-date.

“You’ve probably seen them — round, blue ’30A’ stickers — adorning cars on highways all over the South,” said Southern Living. “More than a quarter of a million are now strewn throughout the planet and spotted in places as far afield as Afghanistan, Uruguay and Iceland.”

Grayton Beer Company and 30A.com announced a partnership to introduce 30A Beach Blonde. The new beer is expected to be on retail shelves and on tap in numerous Panhandle restaurants and bars later this year.

“Over the past few months, the teams at Grayton Beer Company and 30A.com have created the perfect light beer to compliment the popular 30A beach experience,” said Jamey Price, Founder and President of Grayton Beer Company. “It was a natural fit to partner with 30A since the brand has become synonymous with the Gulf Coast lifestyle.”

Price predicts that 30A Beach Blonde will sell extremely well throughout the Panhandle and will have a broader reach in markets throughout the Southeast and U.S. [Follow Grayton Beer on Facebook]

“We created 30A Beach Blonde to retain some lager characteristics, while featuring the flavor profile associated with modern light ales,” said Grayton Beer Company’s Head Brewer Shank, who crafted the tasty new recipe. “It will be a session beer that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

All packaging and marketing material for 30A Beach Blonde will prominently feature 30Aʼs famous round blue logo, which has been seen in magazines such as Southern Living, Atlanta, Beaches, Florida Travel+Life and Entrepreneur, and has been spotted in countries as far away as India, Poland, Iceland, Uruguay, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Thailand. To-date, over 540,000 30A Stickers have been circulated worldwide.

“30A Beach Blonde is an authentic local creation, and we want our fans to be a part of the process and story,” said 30A.comʼs Mike Ragsdale. “We want fans to enjoy 30A Beach Blonde on those long summer days out on the beach, but we also want it to remind them of their time here on 30A, long after they’ve gone home.”

“A website that started to promote a small stretch of coastline is fast becoming an international brand.”

Thanks to Laura Hussey and Auriette Lindsey at WEAR-TV (ABC Channel 3) in Pensacola for featuring another wonderful story about our little company! This time, it’s about our world-famous 30A Stickers and the phenomenal growth of 30A.com and the 30A brand.

We just passed 200,000 fans on 30A’s Facebook page shortly after midnight. While it took us three-and-a-half years to reach 100,000 fans, it’s taken less than 12 months to double our size!

To put that number into some perspective, 30A’s Facebook following is larger than the populations of many major U.S. cities, including Little Rock, Arkansas (pop: 195,314); Mobile, Alabama (194,914); Salt Lake City, Utah (189,899); Knoxville, Tennessee (180,761); Jackson, Mississippi (175,561) and Tallahassee, Florida (182,965). It also ranks 30A ahead of many nationally known brands such as Coastal Living (73,081 fans), The New York Post (96,896 fans), The Atlanta Journal Constitution (48,667 fans), Salt Life (185,489 fans) and The Chicago Tribune (71,710 fans), just to name a few. WOW!

We would like to sincerely thank all 30A fans everywhere for supporting our business and beach community.

30A.com officially launched The 30A Card, a new membership program that offers cardholders exclusive discounts in over 100 local restaurants, shops and businesses, across all South Walton communities from Sandestin to Rosemary Beach.

“The 30A Card can easily pay for itself with just a single use,” said Alsobrook. “Best of all, it’s absolutely free for merchants to participate, so it’s an affordable and easy way to reach new customers.”

What’s 30A?

“30A means good times on the Gulf Coast," said U.S. Airways Magazine. Founded in 2007, 30A is a fun, positive and inspiring brand that celebrates the laid-back beach life that locals and visitors enjoy along Scenic Highway 30-A. But “30A is more than just a road in Florida,” said WEAR-ABC. “A website that started to promote a small stretch of coastline is fast becoming an international brand.” In fact, with over 300,000 Facebook fans around the world, “30A.com has exploded" (Southern Living).